The actor spewed an antigay slur last night when a paparazzo asked him about gossip reports linking him to Evan Rachel Wood.

"She's a good friend, that's it," Rourke said, while walking into L.A.'s Hyde nightclub. "Tell that f----t who wrote all that shit in the paper I'd like to break his f--king legs."

A video of the incident quickly went viral today as soon as it was posted at Hollywood.tv.

But now, in an exclusive statement to me, Rourke says he regrets what he said. "I want to sincerely apologize for the derogatory word I used," he says in the statement. "It was insensitive and inappropriate of me and I am deeply sorry that I may have offended anyone."

Wood has also denied the rumors, but did so in a much more civilized manner.

"Everybody thinks we're dating and we're not," Wood told People magazine yesterday. "Mickey and I bonded while shooting The Wrestler and we became friends, but nothing more."

Rourke found himself in similar trouble back in 2006 when he used the F-word to describe a drunken fan who he almost got into a fight with.

"Look, I'm not afraid to say the word f-g," he said in an interview with New York's Time Out magazine. "I've got plenty of gay friends. We toss the word around."

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